


A Watchful Eye

by witchfutaba



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M, Pre-Relationship, contains major spoilers for persona 5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-22 20:54:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23000248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/witchfutaba/pseuds/witchfutaba
Summary: During his brief stint of time in the Phantom Thieves, Akechi observes their treatment of one of their members. They share a walk.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Sakamoto Ryuji
Comments: 3
Kudos: 105





	A Watchful Eye

**Author's Note:**

> contains major spoilers for persona 5, pls dont read if you havent played! or do read if you just dont care about spoilers

Though some would have described him as a cruel psychopath and a murderer, no one could say Goro Akechi was completely heartless. He knew after all how to make people smile, how to make them laugh, what comments to slip into brief conversations in order to make people feel special and wanted. After all, he himself had been suspect to such whims all his life by adults who were simply invested in getting the "problem child" scrubbed from his adoption record in order to get more money for fostering, but to no avail. Goro was a broken child, something he was absolutely fine with, yet it made him acutely aware of how to act normal. 

He was deliberately perfect in all of his actions, in forming careful outward-facing friendships to the public with little to no substance that existed purely to fill up his Instagram page and make him appear to be a more likeable personality. 

The result of such crafting in order to sculpt a perfect image was that Goro knew when someone was putting on an image, and there was no exception to Ryuji Sakamoto.

It seemed all of the Phantom Thieves had something to hide from him, and why shouldn't they? He was acutely aware of how much he had hurt them, more than they could ever realise. Goro picked up on Haru's grating smiles, Yusuke's cold shoulder to him, Futaba's unnatural indifference even by her standards towards his inquiries and Kurusu's infuriating evasion to every question, even a simple "How was your day?" would be met with nothing more than a gentle "Hm?" followed by nothing. All of this made it more curious as to why Ryuji was not only the sole Phantom Thief to be genuine with Goro, but Goro seemed to be the only Thief that Ryuji opened up to at all.

It was his job to read body language, subtle indicators of speech; he was a detective after all, that was sort of his thing. Goro noticed the way Ryuji tensed up whenever any speech was directed towards him, his shoulders hitching up a little and his brow furrowing. His hands, when not affixed to his pockets, seemed to be restless in the same way Kurusu's were, constantly touching at a pen or picking at a nail. His good leg was bouncing whenever he was sat down, and he was no doubt hiding his limp when he was running along with everyone else. The most perplexing part, Goro found, was that Ryuji's actions seemed to be justified.

Every Thief had shunned Goro, but they seemed to actively use Ryuji as a punching bag. Everyone seemed to be guilty of it to at least some extent. Ann poked fun at his intelligence, Haru seemed to imply that he was some sort of brute who had no finesse for delicate activities, Futaba took jabs at his appearance, and the less said about Makoto and Morgana the better. Yusuke was generally inoffensive but seemed to decline all of Ryuji's requests to go out and get ramen or work out together, and for a best friend, Kurusu could be really shitty and neglectful within Mementos or Sae's palace. No, it seemed everyone had some bone to pick with Ryuji, but Goro could not figure out why.

While it was only a backstabbing mission, a way for Goro to advance his ultimate plan of killing his father, a part of him felt genuinely sorry for the boy. Though they were not together alone very often, it happened occasionally. When it did, Goro was more than happy to listen, Loki chastising him for caring even a little and Robin Hood seemingly congratulating him in his head. One such moment was after a particularly grueling Mementos run, and Akechi was just about to slip away when Ryuji grabbed his shoulder.

"Hey, uh... walk with me?"

"Sorry?" Goro replied, his face contorting in confusion.

"Ah, eff it... forget it. Don't worry about it." Ryuji was just about to walk away when, in a truly irrational moment of impulsion, Goro grabbed his arm in return.

"Wait, ah, Sakamoto. I'll walk with you. I apologise, you just caught me off guard." Ryuji's eyes widened almost imperceptibly before he huffed and started walking, inevitably waiting for Akechi to catch up.

They walked together, in silence at first, admiring the bright lights of the rapidly dimming city before Ryuji opened with a start.

"So, uh. I don't like you."

"I'm flattered, Sakamoto."

"Shut up, let me finish." Ryuji kicked at a can, listening to the clanging of metal scatter across the ground as he gathered his thoughts.

"I just wondered, y'know... what's it, uh. What's it like? Being the 'Detective Prince' and all." Akechi's eyes narrowed a little at the title, not expecting the conversation to go this way.

"What brought this on? You've never showed interest in my business before now."

"Y'know! I was just... don't worry about it. I'm curious, yeah?" Ryuji thoroughly averted his eyes as they entered the metro station, the cold lights somehow flattering his complexion. Goro didn't blush, because that would be stupid.

"It's really not all it's cracked up to be, I admit. A lot of pretending to be someone I'm not, a lot of paperwork, and a lot of pretending to enjoy horrible jokes by TV hosts."

Ryuji looked over briefly, not enough to show his interest but Goro knew better. "For real? I figured you were just a dumbass dork who enjoyed that shit."

Goro laughed, a rich genuine one, and Ryuji hated himself for enjoying the sound. "No, god, it's awful! You really think anyone enjoys that?"

"Well, I don't know! I'm not, like, some TV guy or whatever!" They were both surprised as they ended up laughing with each other, starting as light chuckles before going into full-blown cackles, laughing to themselves in the empty station on the platform as they sat with each other on a dusty bench and leaned on each other. Ryuji wiped the tears from his eyes, breathing deeply to try and stop his laughing.

"Ah... god, thanks, G- ah, Akechi. You don't know how much I needed that."

"It's fine, um. Ryuji." Both of them seemed equally shocked at Akechi's leap, but Ryuji gathered himself. Goro didn't miss the way a smile pulled at his lips, the way the tears seemed to return, though not spurred on by laughter.

"Goro, then. You, uh. You are okay with that, right?" 

"Yes, I suppose I am." They smiled at each other, an odd brief moment of peace in the life of two very traumatised children. They were interrupted by the rattling of a train as it came along the line, Ryuji standing up and breaking the contact. Goro hadn't even realised they were holding hands until the warmth was gone, and he yearned for it back already.

"Well, uh... this is mine. You have my phone, yeah? You can always message later!"

"I can, this is true. You make sure to tell me when you get home safe, okay?"

Ryuji stood stunned for a second, and Goro tried not to think about the horrible implication that no one had asked him that in a very long time.

"Sure! Uh, yeah. I'll message you, okay? I've really gotta go, bye!" He jumped through the doors, Goro almost telling him to wait before they closed and his outstretched hand was suddenly reaching for nothing as the train sped away from the station, suddenly feeling very empty.

"Oh dear. I appear to be feeling."

**Author's Note:**

> ah yes.... furthering my agenda
> 
> the real reason i started writing fic was to get good enough to write THIS ship  
> i will write more ryugoro  
> maybe


End file.
